Well... I think its safe to say, in all its glory, we can be expecting a solid game. Raven has delivered enough before now, and this will be their most comprehensive game yet. I was a total skeptic at first, like alot im sure. But ive been reading all the previews, and been around the forums etc. etc. And frankly, im starting to get excited. It also really impressed me with Raven coming to the JK net forums, and the Massassi forums. It shows theyre being mindfull of the already massive community that will be buying and playing JO. Which seems simple, but too many developers skip that crucial part. So needless to say... im pumped. And I have faith in Raven to deliver.

Hey everyone, check this out... its a post i saw up on massassi.net's JK2 forum that i found kind of interesting:

"my number 1 concern is that JK2 will lose some of its FPS atmosphere, on the count of it being a STAR WARS game. now don't get me wrong or anything, there's nothing outstandingly disgusting with that... its just that because its developed itself so much as a STAR WARS game, i have this fear that it will lose some of its FPS edge. don't think im dissing star wars or anything, its just that im a real big fan of FPS games.

i mean, to me, it looked like lucasarts just jumped on the FPS bandwagon by releasing DF, only by adding their own unique touch: the STAR WARS atmosphere and the ability to shoot stormtroopers (well, at least that's what got me).

and a reason i think that JK lost some of that FPS-ness was the weapons... to be honest, i didn't like a lot of them. i loved the saber (which looks to be even better in JK2), and the force powers were awesome (again, adding to that never-been-done feeling you get from JK) but to me there weren't any other weapons that were very appealing in the MP realm. sure, the concussion rifle was great... but it was cheap, especially when players used the conc and only the conc (which tended to be ALL the time). the stormtrooper rifle lost its edge... personally, its my favorite weapon, but it's fire rate was too slow and the accuracy was just horrible (my memory's a little shaky on DF, but wasn't the fire rate a lot faster and the aim a lot better?). the sniper mode in MOTS, though, i loved... it really brought back some of that true FPS feeling (too bad you didn't see blood instead of that spark sprite, but hey, its star wars). i hope they fix the accuracy on this baby for JK2. the thermal detonators: weak. these babies could've been something. they had the potential... i hope they are improved upon greatly for JK2, as well as the flash grenades (which, again, were weak but possessed great potential). i hope they become more powerful in JK2, resulting in them being more useful... my best bet is to have these act as cover... like the grenades and flashbangs in COUNTER-STRIKE. the bryar pistol was, in my opinion, another weak weapon with potential. i hope they make the pistol more like a handgun in JK2, with the fire rate being as fast as you hit the fire button (as opposed to just holding it down). maybe that will make it more useful. the shots were too slow and too weak to actually count. i liked the repeater, but it was too weak at times... great weapon, though. hope to see an improved one in JK2. i thought the rail detonator was very good... powerful, but not as cheap as the concussion rifle. i liked this weapon becuase, unlike the conc, it required you (at times) to actually aim at the other players. plus i thought it was hilarious the first time i tried this baby's secondary fire out (come on, you know you chuckled the first time you hit that civilian with the sticky det. and watched him run around in circles before he blew up)

and finally... the weapons that i thought were useless: the bowcaster and the carbonite gun. yet another example of lucasarts adding their unique, star wars touch to the FPS arena... but in these 2 cases, they weren't very successful. i don't know about you guys out there, but these weapons were useless to me and i don't want to waste both my time and yours talking about my gripes."

--KatarnX

i don't know about the rest of you, but i totally agree with him (im also a big fan of the game counterstrike). i really like the ideas of the bryar pistol as more of a handgun (becuase what's the point of bringing this gun back yet AGAIN if its not going to do us jack, right?!) and the idea of the detonators / flash grenades to act as cover (like the grenades and flashbangs in counterstrike.) both these ideas are quite insightful, and i hope someone important sees that and takes them into consideration. bottom line is that the reason i agree with this guy is because i hope ALL of JK2's weapons will be useful, both in single player and, more importantly, multiplayer.

Originally posted by Moldy_Crow:
<STRONG>Hey everyone, check this out... its a post i saw up on massassi.net's JK2 forum that i found kind of interesting:

"my number 1 concern is that JK2 will lose some of its FPS atmosphere, on the count of it being a STAR WARS game. now don't get me wrong or anything, there's nothing outstandingly disgusting with that... its just that because its developed itself so much as a STAR WARS game, i have this fear that it will lose some of its FPS edge. don't think im dissing star wars or anything, its just that im a real big fan of FPS games.

i mean, to me, it looked like lucasarts just jumped on the FPS bandwagon by releasing DF, only by adding their own unique touch: the STAR WARS atmosphere and the ability to shoot stormtroopers (well, at least that's what got me).</STRONG>

Well, I personally don't know what KatarnX is talking about. Dark Forces was an FPS, and a damned good one. Jedi Knight followed on that tradition, and added the much-needed elements of the Lightsaber and Force powers to really distinguish and elevate it above the crop of other FPS games that came out around that time. They are two of the best FPS games ever made, for their time, IMO. I have no doubts that JK2 will continue to hold the flag high.

As far as the weapons go, I can't comment on MP, because I never really played it (bad net connection). However, for the SP game, I think they got the balance right. I used all of the weapons in Dark Forces and JK, because some were better in certain situations.

The Bryar pistol was good for accuracy over distances. Perhaps the fire rate could be improved, but not by much. It would be silly to just click click click as rapidcly as possible, and have the gun fire every time. It would turn into a highly accurate repeater, which wouldn't be fair.

The ST-Rifle had a faster fire rate - and was less accurate as a result. This made perfect sense to me - similar to the way the machine gun in Quake 2 rides up if you let it. The ST-Rifle only became more accurate and faster-fire with a powerup - which incidentally, I didn't really like that much. If they could make it so the Rifle is in danger of overheating or something, it might be better.

The Thermal Detonators were weaker than I expected in both DF and JK. However, they had to find some sort of grenade type weapon for the game, because it became part of the FPS line-up, and was pretty much expected. It may have been weak, but if it had been more powerful, it could have been as devastating as the conc rifle.

The Bowcaster was a nice weapon, IMO. You could hold down the fire button to power it up, either for a more powerful single shot, or for a spread shot. It was also extremely accurate and retained it's power over long distances - I used it on those flying things all the time because it was so effective.

The Imperial Repeater was another accurate weapon over distance with rapid fire. It was ideal for quickly taking out Probe Droids etc., and for Stormtroopers in a tight situation.

Sequencer charges were great for laying traps. Enough said.

The Rail Detonator was a great weapon to use against the AT-STs and groups of Stormtroopers. I didn't use it that often, but found it useful when I did.

The concussion rifle was great for clearing a room of enemies, or for whacking enemies up close in secondary fire mode. It was also good for taking out gun turrets.

Can't comment on the carbonite gun because I never used it.

I can see where some of these weapons might not have been as effective in MP, but you have to remember that MP is a different animal to SP. Weapons that work in SP may not work as well in MP and vice versa. They are essentially two different types of game - which is why the weapons in Unreal Tournament were tweaked and balanced compared to their Unreal counterparts.

Somehow, they must try and find a way to give the weapons better balance in MP while not making weapons too powerful or too weak in the SP game. Perhaps they could introduce a modifier or something for the MP mode of play, to make some weapons stronger and other weaker. It is certainly something that needs to be looked at.

Mouldy Crow, I appreciate you opinion of JK2. But the reason the series got me is not cos I'm a huge FPS fan, I'm not, but because of the extra's it offered. Force powers, the saber, role-playing elements in the development of force powers. It was these factors that were my attraction. I hope they and more, are included to make JK2 more than just another FPS by Raven.